The Sweetest Game
by Quikil
Summary: How many licks does it take...?


**Fandom**: Instant Star

**Pairing**: Jude/Tommy

**Rating**: T, for innuendo

**Genre**: Romance/Humour/General

**Prompts**: I had an idea after experiencing the hellish reality that is Valentine's Day. Thassabout it.

**Dedicated** **to**: Instant Lyrics, for being generally awesome and kickass, and for putting up with, well…me. Haha.

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Instant Star, Jude, Tommy, or their recording studio. I'm happy with fanfic, actually, so no complaints here.

**Summary**: How many licks does it take…?

* * *

"_**­­­­­­­­­­­­­The Sweetest Game­­"**_

"No, Jude! Are you kidding me?!"

"_What_?! No, Tommy, come on! It'll be fun!"

"No!"

Jude Harrison and Tommy Quincy were sitting cross-legged across from each other on the floor of their usual recording studio at GMajor, once again arguing over something stupid. Jude, on one hand, was sporting an extraordinary pout; while Tommy, on the other, looked firmly resolute.

"Pleeeeease!"

"No, Jude."

"Oh, please? Why not?"

"Jesus, how many times…" Tommy mumbled to himself, looking up at the ceiling as if asking for a prayer. "If I told you once, I told ya a million times, Jude! I hate those things!"

"Ugh, so what? They'll grow on you!"

"Whatever," he grumbled, not at all aggravated, rolling his eyes and looking away from her.

All was silent and comfortably awkward for about five more seconds as Tommy sat, a piece of the carpet apparently fascinating as hell to his wandering eyes.

Suddenly, there was a shriek, a loud 'OOF', and a thud. Jude lay atop Tommy, grinning something fantastic and radiating an air of victory. Tommy smiled lightly at her cute act but sighed exasperatedly, resting his head back against the carpet.

"Please? For me?" She pleaded one more, her bottom lip ready to tremble in her faux 'near-tears' charade. She knew she didn't have to actually be upset; he always gave in to her whims anyway.

"…Fine. _Give it to me_."

He grinned as she did despite himself, and she reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out what looked like a small, paper-covered pink ball on a white stick. Tommy inwardly grimaced, but took the thing anyway and sat up.

"You owe me for this, Harrison."

"You wish, Quincy. You know you can't resist me," she replied, turning up her nose and flipping her hair in mock 'supah-stah!' fashion.

Tommy locked eyes with Jude and held her gaze as she realized the implication of her sentence. Smirking yet not breaking eye-contact, he held up the thing between them, slowly unwrapping it. "Obviously," he whispered.

He finished pulling the paper off of the ball, the whole time never breaking eye contact with Jude; however, the two had surreptitiously inched closer to each other without even realizing it. Tommy's hand was now resting on Jude's arm, and her hand was carefully residing on his knee. To them, it was almost perfection.

Almost.

Breaths mingling, hearts racing, gazes darting from eyes to lips, their closeness was almost too hard to ignore. Finally deciding to break their obvious moment, Tommy quietly said, "Count for me."

Bringing the item to his lips, he licked it. Under her breath, Jude responded, "One."

Lowering it slightly so he could look her in the eyes fully again, he found Jude's gaze enraptured with his lips. Inwardly shuddering at the look on her face, he smiled lightly, brought the red ball to his lips once more, and took another slow lick.

"Two," they said in unison. A blush crept up both of their faces, yet Jude still managed to try to smile disarmingly; Tommy did the same after a moment, though he quickly looked away, deciding to focus intently on the red ball-on-a-stick in his hand. Jude then followed.

Tension was palpable in the air again. Each pair of eyes were staring unblinkingly into the other's, each heart beating steadily faster and harder in time with its partner, each breath drawn so slowly, so softly, so as not to disturb the reverie they were so wonderfully trapped in. Neither of them could believe that something so innocent could turn into something so scarily amazing.

I mean, they would have, if they'd been thinking right then.

Suddenly Jude decided she'd had more than enough. Throwing all caution and doubt to the wind, she grabbed Tommy's candy-holding hand and pulled it closer to her own mouth. Smiling at his dumbfounded expression, she twisted the lollipop so that the end that he'd licked was facing her. Bringing it closer to her mouth, she slowly dragged her tongue over the spot, smirking at his absolutely still priceless expression.

"Thre-"

"Oh, _screw _this!" Tommy all but yelled, finally taking the lollipop out of their hands and throwing it rather violently across the room. In his desperation he didn't hear it hit the wall and smash; he was obviously too busy. He threaded his fingers through Jude's hair and firmly but gently pulled her forward, their lips crashing together. She smiled against his lips at the urgency and need in his actions, yet kissed back just as fervently: in reality, she'd wanted this for longer than she could remember.

They'd been kissing for about thirty seconds when Jude pulled away rather suddenly and ducked her head down. Fear or the need to breathe crossed Tommy's mind as possible reasons for her retreat, and he was so worried/anxious he didn't see her trying to fight off a wide smile. He realized that she was (rather futilely) attempting to suppress a mad case of the giggles, and smiled as well; lifting her chin up with his finger, they locked gazes for a split second more (but for what felt like the millionth time in ten minutes) before Jude could contain herself no longer. Erupting into laughter, she held her sides and all but fell over from the hilarity of it all.

"What?" Tommy asked, half wondering if maybe he'd missed her mouth and frenched her chin or something.

Jude, still laughing only not quite as hard now, pointed to a corner of the carpet. On it laid a small white stick about two and a half inches long, decimated red candy pieces surrounding it, and red stickiness barely visible on the wall. He smiled and gave her a look that plainly stated, "So?", and tilted his head endearingly.

"Jeez, fierce much? You big, loveable brute," she quipped, still grinning uncontrollably, tackling him back onto the floor again.

Cupping her cheek with one hand and resting a firm other on the small of her back, he smiled lovingly up at her.

"Only for you," he whispered, kissing her soundly once more.

A few minutes passed in pure bliss. Then, as if experiencing an answer from that higher deity he'd prayed to before, Tommy abruptly sat up, almost sending Jude flying across the room.

"Come on," he said, standing up and offering her his hand. She looked disgruntled and rather puzzled, to say the least.

"What? Why? Where're we going?"

Turning away from her after she'd gotten up, he bent down near the wall and scooped up the remains of what started their make out session, throwing them in a nearby trashcan.

"Just come on, trust me, you'll like the idea I just had."

"Okay…" Jude nodded, smiling once more. Looking over her shoulder at the trashcan he'd just thrown the lollipop in, a thoughtful expression graced her features. "…So do you still hate them, Tommy?"

"You know I do," he said, smirking, "they're nasty tasting. But after that, I really don't care."

Jude grinned widely and leaned into him, but a contemplative crease persisted in her brow. Tommy stopped as they reached the main hallway of GMajor, gingerly smoothing out the wrinkles in her eyebrows with his thumbs.

"What's wrong? I told you, you'd like the idea…"

"No, it's just," Jude smiled once more, "I'm still wondering how many licks it takes."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Tommy said, before leaning in and capturing her lips again in a chaste kiss. Pulling away, he smirked adorably and grabbed her hand, entwined their fingers, kicked the front door open and led them outside. He leaned closer to her beaming face a final time as they walked down the street hand in hand.

"So let's go find out, _Toots_."


End file.
